psa: ikea.

I'm quite certain that the employees of the South Philly Ikea are starting to recognize me. Lately we've been frequent visitors to the place. It's the best place in the world to go when Ben is fussy, or when we have a little time to kill before a nap. It's like an amusement park. Lots to look at, fun colors, different people each time. And elevator rides. And self-checkout, where Ben can watch me scan things in. That's fun because the scanner beeps and the lady inside the machine talks to us.

Ikea has a fun secret parking area for families. At the one near our house, it's on the side of the building, and if you don't know about it, you'll miss it:


And here we are waiting for the elevator. I think it blows Ben's mind that we enter through one side of the elevator and leave through the other side. Actually it probably doesn't really blow his mind at all, but he likes looking around when we're inside.


Ikea has a fun little area in its cafeteria for kids. There's a tv playing children's shows, and some toys mounted against the wall, and little-people-sized chairs. And kids' meals are 99 cents. The mac and cheese is pretty good, actually. There's a bottle-warming station if you bottle feed your baby, and they provide bibs and utensils for the little ones. Here's some kid watching tv:


We walked around the place, extra slowly yesterday, because Ben hadn't napped all day and was pretty cranky. We chose two of his favorite things: a blue set of plastic funnels for 99 cents, and a pack of 100 straws for 1.99. He likes chewing on straws. I really like the wooden toys they have for kids. They're sturdy and colorful and a good buy. When Ben's old enough I want to get him the easel and paints.

Here he is at the end of our journey. I'd gotten him to stop whining for a few seconds and was able to take a picture of him in the lobby, before I put his coat on. It was a two-hour-long field trip. I'm pretty happy we have this place nearby. It's my last-minute go-to place when all else fails.